Median income reaches pre-Recession levels

MEDIAN INCOME REACHES PRE-RECESSION LEVELS: Eight years after the Great Recession ended, median U.S. household income in 2017 finally returned to its pre-recession level ($61,400), marking the third consecutive uptick in American incomes, according to data released Wednesday by the Census Bureau. But the median’s 1.8 percent growth during 2017--President Donald Trump’s first year in office--was notably slower than its growth during each of the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency (5.2 percent in 2015 and 3.2 percent in 2016; all figures are adjusted for inflation). Also, the 2017 median remained a bit below its historic peak in 1999 ($62,000 in current dollars).

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“Wage growth remained slow,” writes POLITICO’s Timothy Noah, “and by some measures actually declined in 2017, even as household income rose. Median earnings for year-round, full-time work fell 1.1 percent, after inflation, the Census reported. The household income gain appeared to reflect an increase in the number of hours worked.” More from Noah here and more from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute here.

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TEN-CITY MCDONALDS STRIKE: McDonalds workers, acting in partnership with Fight for $15 and Times Up, will strike Tuesday to demand that managers undergo mandatory sexual harassment training and that the fast food giant improve how it responds to harassment complaints. McDonalds workers filed ten complaints with the EEOC in May alleging retaliation when they reported sexual harassment, including groping and propositioning. Another 15 harassment complaints were filed in 2016. The strikes come as McDonald’s tries to resolve an NLRB case alleging that the fast-food chain is a “joint employer,” jointly liable for labor violations committed by its franchisees.

“We want to change the culture in McDonalds, and by doing that change the culture in the fast food industry,” Mary Joyce Carlson, counsel to the Fight For $15 told Morning Shift. “We’re hoping the strikes will be a new front for collective action for this group of workers.” The company told the Associated Press that it was starting a “new initiative” working with outside experts to help the company “evolve” their sexual harassment policies and procedures. “Some of the experts would come from Seyfarth Shaw at Work, an employment law training firm, and RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization.” More from the AP here.

MURRAY BILL ON WOMEN’S RETIREMENT SECURITY: On Wednesday night Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced legislation that would extend to defined-contribution pensions spousal protections that exist in defined-benefit pensions. The bill would also amend minimum participation standards to allow certain long-term part-time workers to join pension plans, and would provide grants to community organizations to promote women’s financial literacy. Read the draft text of the bill here and a summary here.

DEMOCRATS IN LABOR DISPUTE: “Less than two months ahead of the midterm elections, the Ohio Democratic Party finds itself at war with an unlikely adversary: a labor union made up of its own employees,” POLITICO’S Ian Kullgren reports. “In bruising negotiations over the past several weeks, party leaders have resisted pay increases and other union demands and hired a management-side law firm to push back. One of the party’s negotiators is even a registered Republican.”

“For Democrats to be at odds with labor this close to Election Day is awkward enough. That the drama is taking place in Ohio, the rare state where even Republicans chase union votes, makes the conflict potentially devastating to a party that’s always claimed to represent working people’s interests.” More from Kullgren here.

60 MINUTES CHIEF OUSTED AFTER HARASSMENT CLAIMS: Another top CBS executive has left the company after allegations that he “inappropriately touched female employees and condoned a toxic culture of sexual harassment,” POLITICO’s Michael Calderone and Jason Schwartz report. Jeff Fager, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” left the company mere days after Chief Executive Leslie Moonves stepped down (after the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow detailed a second round of sexual harassment allegations against Moonves, including “claims that Moonves forced [women] to perform oral sex,” that he “exposed himself,” and that he “used physical violence and intimidation.”

Among the Fager allegations were that he touched employees at company parties in a way that made them uncomfortable and that he protected men accused of harassment. Fager told POLITICO, however, that his firing had nothing to do with those claims, and instead concerned harsh language he used in a text message “demanding” that a female CBS reporter “be fair in covering the story.” Read Farrow’s initial report on Moonves here, and his coup de grâcefollow-up here.

Meanwhile, in an open letter to the CBS Board of Directors, the Time’s Up legal foundation urges the media company to donate Moonves’ $120 million severance package to organizations that fight sexual harassment and advocate workplace safety. The organization also suggests that the newly reconstructed board conduct a pay equity study and establish an inclusive hiring and promotion strategy, among other reforms. Read the letter here. More from POLITICO here.

‘WEAK’ RESPONSE TO HARASSMENT CLAIMS CAN CREATE LIABILITY: The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a hostile work environment claim against Costco, finding that the company’s response to an employee’s complaints about harassment from a customer was “unreasonably weak,” Ryan Golden reports. The EEOC had sued Costco for discriminating against an employee by tolerating a hostile work environment. Costco appealed, arguing that the customer’s comments were not lewd enough to create a hostile environment.

“The 7th Circuit disagreed, saying that whether a workplace is hostile is determined ‘based on 'all the circumstances' of a case’ rather than a separate analysis of each incident. The court added that Costco's liability for the customer's harassment, according to precedent, depended on both the customer's actions and Costco's response,” Golden writes. “Employers may be liable for inappropriate harassment by customers — much like that which comes from managers or coworkers.” More from HR Dive here. Read the 7th Circuit decision here.

DHS DENIES DIVERTING DISASTER FUNDING TO DETENTIONS: DHS officials are vehemently opposing reports that $10 million in FEMA funding was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, POLITICO’s Ted Hesson reports. “Under no circumstances was any disaster relief funding transferred from @fema to immigration enforcement efforts,” tweeted DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton. “This is a sorry attempt to push a false agenda at a time when the administration is focused on assisting millions on the East Coast facing a catastrophic disaster.” POLITICO obtained a DHS budget document last week showing that in addition to the $10 million that was moved from FEMA to ICE, the department redirected $23 million intended for border fencing, infrastructure and technology and $29 million from the Coast Guard. More from Hesson here.

BUSINESS GROUPS PUSH CHANGES TO ESSENTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS: The International Franchise Organization sent a letter to lawmakers earlier this week urging the House to pass H.R. 3798 (115), “The Save American Workers Act of 2017,” which is expected to get a floor vote this week.

“The ACA’s definition of full-time employment of 30 hours of work per week is significantly below the traditional definition of 40 hours per week. The substantial changes in calculating full-time employment as it relates to the employer mandate have forced locally-owned franchise businesses to reduce hours,” IFA writes. “This has had a particularly negative impact on hourly, part-time, and seasonal workers.” The legislation would change the definition of "full-time employee" for purposes of minimum essential health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from an employee who is employed on average at least 30 hours a week to one who is employed 40 hours a week. Read the letter here.

COFFEE BREAK:

— “Nurses file lawsuit against U-M health system in midst of strike vote,” from the Detroit Free Press

— “Businesses that employ recovering addicts may get a boost from pilot program'” from the Chillicothe Gazette

— “Miami Beach Commissioners Want to Cap Uber and Lyft Cars,” from the Miami New Times

— Job Openings Exceed Unemployed Americans Again in July as Employers Feel the Pinch,” from the Wall Street Journal

— Thousands of Chicago Workers Are Out On the First Citywide Hotel Strike In Over a Century,” from In These Times

About The Author : Rebecca Rainey

Rebecca Rainey is an employment and immigration reporter with POLITICO Pro and the author of the Morning Shift newsletter.

Prior to joining POLITICO in August 2018, Rainey covered the Occupational Safety and Health administration and regulatory reform on Capitol Hill. Her work has been published by The Washington Post and the Associated Press, among other outlets.

Rainey holds a bachelor’s degree from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

She was born and raised on the eastern shore of Maryland and grew up 30 minutes from the beach. She loves to camp, hike and be by the water whenever she can.